GDB 44.0 Wrap Up: Shout out everyone that shut off their TVs early, Oilers win 4-3 in the shootout

The last time the Oilers and Panthers met up, the Oilers were outshot, out chanced, and outscored and I was curious to see how they’d rebound for the rematch. I don’t know what it is about the 2018-19 Oilers playing down to their competition but it’s been a problem all season, and November’s loss to the Panthers certainly qualified. To me, struggling teams like Florida are ones that the Oilers need to beat more times than not, especially if they have any hope of hanging onto their playoff dream. Early on, this game played out just as you’d expect from two teams that are teetering along the .500 line. Mistakes were made, turnovers were had, and both teams traded goals on shots that should probably have been stopped. It was the kind of start that gave you a ‘who the hell knows what’s going to happen’ feeling in your gut and an excuse to pour a medicinal rum or two while waiting to see things played out. Both teams have good players that can score and inconsistent goaltending, and that’s a combination that had me fastening my seatbelt in preparation for whatever was coming next.

As the game moved into the second period, the Oilers were actually lucky to have the game tied based on their meagre shot totals and they certainly needed to figure out how to do a better job of getting pucks through to the net while also limiting the time spent in their own end. Instead, what we got was another flat start to the period by the home side which allowed the Panthers to do, more or less, whatever they wanted with the puck and it wasn’t exactly surprising to see them restore their lead. The good news is that they were never able to extend their lead beyond a single goal, and that gave the Oilers just enough daylight to even up the score up on three separate occasions. For a team that looked so defeated against the Sharks, you have to appreciate the resiliency needed to stick with the gameplan even when things looked grim. Obviously, a lot of the credit has to go to Connor McDavid as his brilliance saved the Oilers (and all of us) from what seemed like an impending loss, but that’s the magic of having him. He’s like a real life Game Genie and for that I’m thankful.

While I’m not sure that the Oilers necessarily played well enough to deserve the win, we can debate on that in the comments section, Steve Miller has always inspired me to take the money and run.

The wrap.

THE BRIGHT SIDE

Only 26 seconds after the Panthers opened the scoring with a goal Talbot will certainly want back, Darnell Nurse tied things up in almost the same way. Nurse was trailing the play and picked up a pass up from Alex Chiasson near the blue line and managed to sneak a wrister through Reimer. Darryl had a huge night on the blue line for the Oilers as he finished his night with a monstrous 31:49 on the ice, a big goal in the first period, eight shots on net, four hits, and two blocks.

Edmonton was down by a goal and nearing the third period when they were given a rare 5-on-3 power play opportunity to tie things up and right the ship. Unfortunately, the boys squandered that opportunity pretty horrifically as they weren’t really able to get much of anything done. The good news is that the captain was able to tie the game up only moments after the penalties ended and, even though they may not have deserved it, the Oilers had a tie game heading into the third period. Then, in the final seconds of the third period, the Oilers had their goalie pulled and were in desperate need of a goal, and it was McDavid once again to tie things up and give his team life. What a night for #97. Connor McDavid is an absolute treasure and I don’t care about the people that say I fawn over him too much.

Cam Talbot got a second straight start after having a tough night against the Sharks, which marked the first time he’s been back between the pipes after a loss since Ken Hitchcock has been behind the bench. What I wanted to know was how Talbot would handle this start after being pulled against the Sharks. Would he be the guy that got a shutout in Anaheim, or would we see the one that’s rocking a .889 save% on the season? As turns out, a little of both. I know he’ll probably want that first goal back, but the only reason the Oilers were able to win this hockey game was that Dadbot outplayed the guy at the other end. Talbot finished the night with 27 saves and a .900 save%.

Leon Draisaitl had 28:34 worth of ice time and two huge assists tonight, including when he set Connor for the game tying goal with under 10 seconds to play. Great game by Leon.

I really liked Kris Russell’s game tonight. As always, he kept things simple, threw his body around, and did whatever was needed of him to help the team win. Russell finished the night with 24:05 on the ice, two blocks, two hits, two PIMs, and a +2 rating.

I like when the Oilers win 54% of the faceoffs. I like that a lot. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was a team-high 80% on the dot.

THE FACE PALMERS

Frank Vatrano opened the scoring for the Panthers after his wrist shot snuck through Cam Talbot’s arm and chest protector, and that’s a puck he has to stop. Fortunately, the Oilers got the goal back almost immediately, but that’s a shot that needs to be stopped.

Denis Malgin restored the Panthers lead on a seeing-eye shot that made its way through a bunch of Oilers before ending up in the net. I wish I would have been able to see a reverse angle of the goal because I wonder how much of it Talbot was even able to see. Traffic aside, the Oilers got caught with some spotty defending and Malgin was able to capitalize.

Henrik Borgstrom gave the Panthers the lead for the third time after his centring attempt bounced in off Caleb Jones and Adam Larsson. Combined with the strange own goals against the Sharks on Tuesday, the Oilers have spent about as much time scoring on their own net as they have at the other end of the ice.

That 5-on-3 power play was ugly, man. Yikes. I found that they were way too stationary on the PP and that allowed the Panthers to hang out and wait for the shots to come in.

Are you surprised to find out that the Oilers got outshot again? You’re not, are you? (30-24)

Another big shout out to Peter Chiarelli for trading a serviceable forward in Drake Caggiula for an overpaid defenceman that’s only been in the lineup three times since being acquired. Add another colossal failure to Chiarelli’s resume. Unbelievable.

REAL LIFE PODCAST

Welcome, friends, to the very first Nation Real Life episode of 2019! This week, we recap the Christmas and New Years break, look at the Real Life staff sightings in the wild, Wanye’s adventures in social media, and try to figure out what’s going on with the Edmonton Oilers.

As per tradition, during one of the commercial breaks, they showed all of of the goalies big saves of the game on the big screen. One of the ones they showed for Cam was a shot from outside the blue line. No kidding. They were that starved for tough saves (or maybe they have more of a sarcastic humour than I give them credit for). Seriously though … I love cam … but was there really a tough save he made all night?

Good win. We owned them in Overtime. Team defense was solid. But the Oilers did not play well …
– Jesse awkwardly crashing into the boards pretty much sums up his Pro career.
– Connor was still the best player out there … but that might have been his weakest game I’ve seen. He was off.
– Talbs was just ok – I can’t really think of a tough save he had to make all night (other than shootout).
– No one else stood out at all – positive or negative..
– Florida is pretty underwhelming as a team.

Unless JP takes off the figure skates and decides to play hockey he has Zero chance of making it in the NHL. I have not seen a single game yet where I have been impressed enough to think he should have even been drafted, let alone 4th overall

It’s fun to watch them win but… since we’re really unlikely to make playoffs and need to believe that would be the line in the sand for getting rid of Chia, wouldn’t we be better off getting mathematically eliminated a.s.a.p. and get Pete outta here before the trade deadline?

We’re 2 points out of a playoff spot and Klefbom could comeback soon. We’ll be one of those squeezers as long as everyone else doesn’t get in the way of McDrai and Nuge crawling this team on their backs. We’ll probably get swept or bounced in round 1 but at this point we just want to give Connor some optimism. Unless we make it past 2 rounds then Chiarelli is probably gone. I doubt Hitch comes back if PC is retained, you can tell Hitch can’t stand the guy. With how heated it’s gotten on social media(they don’t even bother blocking fire Chia comments anymore) and in the press we’re bound to see some type of fireworks happen with Chia

Oilers management is insane … but I fail to believe that Pete won’t be fired at the end of the year regardless of playoffs. It’s so blatantly obvious to even the average layman that IF the oilers make the playoffs it will be in spite of Pete’s stupid moves.I know Bob was on record of saying something to the effect that they’d keep Pete if they made the playoffs … but I’d like to believe that’s just lip service. They can’t be that blind.
But they probably are….

Something I noticed is that the press and media is getting alot less availability and pressers with PC then usual They don’t even show Peter sitting in the pressbox on TV anymore. You can tell Hitch is the elephant in the room, everything hockey related seems to run through him. While the Manning and Petrovic trades were awful they weren’t the big panic deals we thought he’d make. He looks like a man in handcuffs. My only hope is that his last and only remaining move to bring Big Rig back before he’s fired. Todd is gone but PC is the guy who brought him here so there’d still be some familiarity for him to come back.

Wow, there sure are a lot of negative comments for a team that had a great comeback win. I took my son in law to the game last night, and while there were some pretty dry stretches in the game, the ending was very exciting. Can’t anyone just enjoy a much needed win?

Well the Oil got a win and two points, but the only time they really came out to play was OT, the rest of the game is pretty much what we saw the last 10, cant denfend in their own end, they are too easy to play againt and they were no were near ready to play. This game from the Oilers is another example of how they just cant get started and then when the game is underway there is zero effort, and this has been there Achilles gell all season and the problems are still there.

The Oilers were plain lucky they got a win because honestly they shouldnt have with their poor performance outside of a few players, but this also showed just how bad the excution from the playuers is, I mean the coaches have to be pulling their hair out but the Oilers havent fixed a damn thing in their end and their PP is brutal its like watching statues, no player movement no making the oppoistion have to work, all the panthers defenders had to do was stand there, because the Oilers were just passing the puck around… like terrible , no wonder the boo birds were starting up in the crowd,

The Oilers need to go back to the basics of a PP and PK and defensive system, because all three of those systems are horrid, absolutely horrid.

What is really stark is how bad the team is, the shots the last three games have been brutal, no where near firing the puck enough and look at the player who are shooting and who isnt, too many passengers on the good bus Oilers and not anywhere near enough drivers

The game aside, for a team that is in as much cap trouble as the Oilers, how can you justify trading for a $2.25M dman who can’t even get in your lineup despite several injuries, who’s also on the books for next season. 97 keeps carrying this team on the ice as the biggest cluster**** keeps going on in management. Everyone I talk to can’t even believe what’s happening. It’s so embarrassing.

I give Hitch major props for continuing to sit Manning even though this makes his boss look like a complete bozo. As far as I can tell, given a healthy roster, Hitch believes Manning is our 10th defenseman. And is being paid 2.25M. And we gave up our 5th leading scorer for him. #becausepete

Meh…the Oilers didn’t deserve this win. McDavid did. Most of the 60 min. were boring to watch. I always wonder how the Oilers lately manage to turn any promising game into a yawn. I didn’t turn off my TV but I managed to do a lot of house chores while having the game in the background.

They didn’t deserve to win. But they didn’t exactly deserve to lose either. I don’t remember Florida with a good scoring chance all game and overtime …. including the goals they scored. Both teams were zzz. Almost like they’re both non playoff teams or something.

Playing all of Darnell, Leon, and Connor 28+ min a game is probably part of the problem to begin with. When you are out that much (~50% of the time, or every other two minutes) you can’t really be expecting to be foot in pedal 100% of the time. Instead they will have to conserve energy (float) until the moment to pounce(the Brochard / JShulz best men on ice in Junior dilemma).

On the other hand the coach complains the lack of compete from his best players. You can’t really have it both ways. When your teams game plan calls for having so many star players to float and pound what kind of lead by example are you really setting up? If the rest of the team just expect to put up with the grunt work, you will be better off filling the roster with last chance Texco career fringe players before contract renewal (Chasson, Rattie). That kind of team would be one dimensional, and the moment they have job security they more than likely reverted (Kassian). Not caring as much? Probably, but they were fringe players because they aren’t that good to begin with.

This had been the problem since the Hall rebuild when they got rid of the old school aging Horcoff and Hemsky, who despite being the top line star players of their team would always be count on putting in an honest effort.

Garbage pickup is tomorrow. Maybe I can throw in Peter Chiarelli with my Shaw Cable box? Im switching to telus after tonight. A free TV, uninterrupted Oilers games, and wi-fi that can reach my room you say?

Actually, the defence does suck.
And Talbot isn’t really that good.
But this is Oil country. Let’s rejoice in an OT win over an eastern bottom feeder.
Holy catfish! Now up to 21% chance to make the playoffs!
Should we plan the parade tonight or wait a few days?

2 points are always welcome, but FLA is not a good team and this game was pulled out of the “L” column with 10 seconds left. Wow. Without McDavid, Drai and Nurse, this is an “L”.
How much longer can you give these guys over 25 minutes a night? Even if you make the playoffs, what will be left in the tank?
If McDavid gets hurt, the team’s chances evaporate. That’s the kind of team Chiarelli has assembled with his “plan”. But enough about Chia.
The fact that Chia is still there means that he is NOT the problem; his boss is. Bob Nicholson told us we were “lucky” that a GM of Chia’s caliber was available. He made the hire and announced we’d be following “the plan”.
At this point in time, it is obvious that “the plan” was/is a colossal failure. A real leader admits his mistakes, pivots and moves forward. BN? He publicly announces Chia is safe if the Oil make the playoffs. This is a foolish move because he paints himself into a corner and limits his options. Real managers know better than to announce stuff like this. Now he finds himself bound by this announcement, watching from atop while Chia blunders his way through catastrophic trades (Manning) and the team underperforms.
BN came in riding his glorious years at Hockey Canada. Overseas travel, expense accounts, the respect and admiration of his colleagues around the world. It was a job that stroked the ego and and padded a resume. I bet he could string a line of bs that was truly impressive. No bothersome contracts, trades or salary cap to get in the way. A plum gig.
Now Bob is in the frying pan and running in circles looking for a corner to hide in. I’m thinking BN feels that if he admits hiring Chia was a mistake, the lens will turn upon BN. So he tries to delay by making his bush league amateur “Chia/safe/playoff” announcement and then, like a scared, empty suit, he freezes like a deer in the headlights and continues to dither. dither, dither. This is not how a real NHL Hockey man builds top down success. This sets the table for failure and it trickles down through the organization.
Chia might have been let go at the end of last year. OK. Bob, you gave him a chance.
But as soon as PC suggested the Manning trade, PC should have been given the boot. Dither, dither, dither.
As soon as he saw Manning play, Chia shoud have been given the boot. Dither, dither, dither.
As soon as Hitch made Manning a healthy scratch because he’s not even good enough for this injury ridden defense corp, Chia should have been given the boot. But Bob continues to dither, dither, dither.
I’ve come to the conclusion that BN was about as good a hire as PC. That is to say: both were epic failures.
This is on the players too. But look at the team Chia/Bob has delivered with “the plan”. It is worse than the team they started with. It takes a monumental run of bad, worse and just plain deplorable decision making to cap out with a team not too far removed from the AHL. Take out 3-4 guys and this team has no offense whatsoever.
And Bob? Dither, dither, dither. This is not strong leadership that the players can respect. It is the proverbial “tire fire” that players dread.
The only one who can end this is Katz the money-counter.
Now that is one scary thought.

That was far from a perfect game last night but, at the end of the day, that team overcame another bad break goal that put it behind with only a few minutes left and scrapped for two points. More often than not, that “own goal” ends things but they got a massive tying goal that may have saved the season. A bonus point and this is a game to build on.

They couldn’t muster a ton offensively and Florida probably carried the play but they were kept to the outside and the Oilers had the advantage is scoring chances.

It was a bad break but this team needs to take gas into their own hands. How many games year have they actually controlled and took matters into their own hands? They look scared to lose and are not sharp nor have any drive apart from McDavid of course. Cags would show some effort once in awhile at least but we all know where he is now….

The downside being you can’t tape and fast forward through all games, because somehow the broadcaster feels they have the rights to control my ‘cable box’. If this continues I won’t be renewing my cable package and will find another method to watch games.

Great effort from McDavid, Nurse,Drisaitl.They were obvious difference makers in this game.Also enjopyed the exciting come from behind win, despite the wobble in the game.Russell and Nuge were okay as well.

Chia needs to be fired. He has somehow skeletonized this forward core into three stars and the rest of marginal 4th liners. The D we have acquired marginal 6-7 dmams and sit about $7M in the press box every night.

Chia can’t make any big moves this year or next year cause no one is stupid enough to trade for undervalued contracts. His only play is 1st pick which I am worried about losing. I also don’t think he would get much value back for JP. This guy has got to go even if we make the playoffs! Getting into the playoffs because the rest of the conference is weak shouldn’t give chia a pass.